Prime Time Access Rule

The Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) was a broadcasting regulation that was instituted in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1970 to restrict the amount of network programming that a local television station either owned-and-operated or affiliated with a television network can air during "prime time". This rule was repealed by the FCC in 1996.

The PTAR was issued in 1970 and was implemented at the beginning of the 1971-72 television season (the week of September 13–19, 1971). It was re-examined periodically and underwent several modifications since its initial implementation.

The PTAR was instated over the concern that the three major television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) dominated the television program production market, controlled much of the programming presented to the public, and inhibited the development of competing program sources. The FCC believed that PTAR would ultimately increase the level of competition in program production, reduce the networks' control over programming decisions made by their affiliates, and thereby increase the diversity of programs available to the public.

To ensure that independent companies would have access, the FCC, at the same time, instituted the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (commonly known as "fin-syn"), which prohibited networks from owning syndication arms. Existing syndication divisions operated by the networks were forced to be spun off as new companies independent of network management (such as Viacom, originally created by CBS to distribute its content, and eventually expanded outside of program syndication and distribution in the succeeding years post-spinoff).

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